……and ushering in the Lucky Seven :)

The Father-Daughter Act!

What is it about tiny little wriggly bundles wrapped in pink that send their fathers into bouts of rapturous insanity?

What makes a strapping worldly-wise executive turn into puddle of mush when a tiny hand grips his pinky?

What makes a little girl confident that the man she calls “Abba” will bend over backwards for her every little whim?

What makes her sure that come what may, there is one person in this world who’ll NEVER raise his voice at her?!!

Seriously, the more I look at the BF and Lui together, the more I marvel at this bond! For the record, we also have a son, a fact which the BF is reminded of when he’s too busy cuddling up with his daughter or playing peek-a-boo with!

For the last few months, I’ve had a distinct suspicion that these two have been teaming up against me and little Shobs. Not that I mind 😀 . Little Shobs is the MOST loyal team-mate one could ever ask for and its a pity when he directs his loyalty at his Sis, and she all but shows him the cold shoulder 😦 .

Anyhow, back to the father daughter thing. These are a few instances of the BF going gooey-eyed at his daughter and throwing reason and practicality out to the dogs :-

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This happened shortly after the twins were born.

The BF gazes lovingly at his daughter while she’s sleeping. There’s a wistful look on his face as he caresses her cheek with a finger. I’m busy folding laundry and look up only when he lets out a loud sigh.

Me : Whats up? What happened?

BF : Ummm…nothing really….am just wondering….

Me : about what?

BF : you know…..I’ll miss her like crazy.

Me : ( Totally bewildered) Miss whom??

BF : Her (pointing to Lui)

Me : But why would you miss her?

BF : *Sigh* She’ll be there with us only for a short while, maybe another 20 years…then she’ll find a job, maybe find some one , get married and move away.

Me : WHAT?!!!! 😐 She’s only TWO MONTHS old!!! There’s plenty of time for her marriage.

BF : *double Sigh* then she’ll be with us for only another 19 years and 10 months 😦

Me : Great!! And what about poor Shobby?

BF : What about him?

Me : Aren’t you going to miss him too?

BF : Umm…no idea… 😦 .With him, there is at least the consolation of a chance that he might want to stay with us. But with her, whether she wants to or not, one day she’ll have to leave us 😦

Me : Seriously now, are we really having a conversation about our children’s marriage ?!!

BF : You are so mean!!

Me : Yeah right!! Me, the one whose tummy was sliced with a meat cleaver to give your daughter, is the mean one!!

BF : (going back to gazing lovingly at his daughter) Shhhh…..don’t yell. She might wake up.

Me : 🙄

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2) I’m playing with the kids while we set their bed for the night. Shobby clambers on my back to play ‘horsh-horsh’ while Lui does a wriggly act on the mattress as I pretend to mock-eat her cheeks.

Me : Shobby is good boy?

Shobs : Haan!

Me : Shobby kiska beta hai??

Shobs : Mumma ka.

Me : Lui is a good girl?

Lui : Haan.

Me : Lui kiska beta hai?

Lui : Abba ka.

Me : 😐

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3) It is late at night and Lui refuses to go to sleep. Little Shobs dozed off about an hour back and I’m too tired to rock Lui to sleep. So the BF takes over. He starts off narrating some jungle story and Lui intersperses with her questions. I don’t realize when I go off to sleep, but sometime later, I wake up and find that the father and his daughter are still deep in discussion. She is as bright as morning and at 12 in the night, in spite of a rough day at work, the BF is just as fresh. I have no idea what they’ve been talking about , since Lui’s vocabulary is rather limited and her pronunciation of the words she does know, is very bad. But it is evident that these two perfectly understand each other 😀

I smile to myself and cuddle up with Shobs.

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4) A few nights back, we had a similar case as one mentioned above. Lui refused to sleep and Shobs was out like a lamp. But Lui was definitely sleepy. it was one of those days when she fights her sleep, refusing to lie down even when she’s struggling to keep her eye-lids open. When I try to force her, she yells for her abba, who immediately hops over and takes control. By which, I mean that he lies down next to her and starts his story.

Lui lies down next to him and rolls about for a while, not finding any position/location comfortable enough. After a few minutes of rolling around, she clambers up on her father’s tummy and lays down her head on his chest. Within seconds, she’s in la-la land 🙂

Me : She’s sleeping now. You can put her down.

BF : Shhh….

Me : (to self) for God’s sake….!!

After some time, I find the BF still lying prone in the same position and Lui busy snoring.

Me : Put her down will you.

BF : No. I don’t want to.

Me : Huh?! You intend sleeping like that the whole night?

BF : Sure…..that is if she lieks it like that.

Me : 🙄

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There are many such instances, like the time when we are out late at night and the kids drift off to sleep in the car. It’s always Lui that the BF picks up to bring home. And I bring in Shobs. When out shopping, it is she who sits high on his arms and it is towards him that she runs to when we (me and the BF) step into the house together.

On his part, the BF is not voluntarily partial towards Lui. He does play a lot with Shobs too, but there is something which always drags him towards Lui frist. No idea what that invisible rope is, but I must say, it is rather strong 😀

Lolz… great post. Girls and their dads.. they do have a special bond. I remember mye mom cribbing all the time because we were two sisters and we’d team up with our dad all the time :-). I’m so glad I have a team mate in my son.

Awwww Srihari, this is such a sweet comment.
I can totally understand what you say because I’ve seen you with your daughter. You get the same look on your face which I’ve seen a zillion times on the BF 🙂
And your daughter is absolutely worthy of your adulation 🙂

Am “de-lurking” here. have enjoyed your chronicles of and on for the past 2-3 months.

Am a father of a 15 month old girl. Since she has no sibling cannot talk abt my preferences et al.

However, thanks for posting story 1. In my saner moments, I was wondering if something is wrong with me since, at times, i think that i have used up 5% of my “full time” with her (15months / 300 months) 🙂

now i know at least one more person has a similar countdown running in some corner of his mind.

Life with RS & SS

"You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore... but let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you."
Author: Khalil Gibran
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Aren't those lines beautiful?! Each time I mention that I have twins, I simply LOVE the way the words feel to my ears...as if, just saying it was a blessing (which it is).
Each day, each hour, minute,second is a blessing.
I cant even think of my life before you two....Its almost as if it all got wiped off and I started life afresh after you both arrived.
Me, as a mother was born the day you two did....and together, we grow, we learn, we love, we laugh, we live.